OT: Internet Explorer 8 Multiple Tabs = Multiple Processes

This has nothing to do with SQL Server, but it was something that I noticed today and had to do a bit of research for.  I recently upgraded from IE6 and IE7 on my work machines to IE8 since my Windows 7 Laptop uses IE8 I kind of got used to having some of its features.  By my very nature I tend to over work the common computer by having to many screens open as I jump around from task to task, and problem to problem. At any given point in the day, it is common for my task bar to be scrolling and it is currently set to hold three rows of applications.

I previously made use of FireFox to take advantage of the multiple tabs, but have been using IE8 for the same feature.  (Chrome users, yes I know about it, no I don't care to try it, so please save comments about switching to Chrome :-) )  Today I had once again overworked my desktop to the point that it was having trouble switching screens, and it was especially having trouble switching tabs in IE8.  Curious whether or not a machine inventory (automated asset tracking software) or virus scan had been kicked off mid-day, I opened task manager and found a screen full of iexplore.exe processes. 

Turns out this is by design in IE8:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/03/11/ie8-and-loosely-coupled-ie-lcie.aspx

I also happened on this blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/askie/archive/2009/03/09/opening-a-new-tab-may-launch-a-new-process-with-internet-explorer-8-0.aspx

that shows how you can loosely control the configuration of this.  I am not sure that this feature is actually a benefit to me.  I am certainly using more memory and as shown in my screen shot above CPU from this.  What is really bad is that IE 8 is listed as an Important Update in Windows Update Services.

(CSS) - Updated Support Policy for Virtualization of SQL Server

Microsoft updated the Support Policy for running SQL Server Virtualized today.  The CSS Team Blog has a post that provides a quick overview of what's changed as well as a link to the new policy:

http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2009/09/03/another-update-for-the-support-policy-for-virtualization-for-sql-server.aspx

Now I haven't personally looked at the SVVP approved vendor list in a long time but I decided to take a glance today at it, and there are a bunch of new approved platforms:

http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/results.aspx?&bCatID=1521&cpID=0&avc=0&ava=0&avq=0&OR=1&PGS=25

The key topics to make note of in the updated policy which can be found on the following KB Article are listed in the Restrictions and Limitations and include the inclusion of Guest Failover Clustering Support if you are on Windows Server 2008 and meet the requirements of Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering, and the lack of support for Virtualization Snapshots.

Moving to SQLBlog.com

At the beginning of the week I was contacted by Adam Machanic and asked if I was interested in moving my blog from Blogger to SQLBlog.com which is run by Adam, and Peter Debetta. This was originally something that I thought would be easy to do, but when it came down to it and I had to make a decision it was really hard to do. I've spent the last year blogging on this site, building a reader base, and using the content here to help answer questions on various forums. Currently I get just under 200 hits a day and have over 50 subscribed readers to this blog, so why would I want to move my blog?

Well, the main reason is the extended reach that exists for SQLBlog.com due to the other bloggers who blog there including Kalen Delaney, Kevin Kline, Adam Machanic, Simon Sabin, Peter Debetta, Aaron Bertrand, and numerous others. Now some might call me a sell out, but in reality the whole reason that we blog is to have people read what we write. I've been pretty successful building readership on my own, but by blogging at SQLBlog.com, I can grow my readership even further and faster.

So that being said, if you follow me here, I hope you will continue to follow me on SQLBlog.com. I plan to leave this blog in place since there are thousands of links to its content online and I would hate to orphan those links. You can follow my new posts on the SQLBlog RSS feed for my new blog at:

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/rss.aspx

The link to the actual blog is:

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/

Wordle and blog content

This post has been migrated to my new blog on SQLBlog.com. You can find this post at the following address:
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/archive/2009/01/16/wordle-and-blog-content.aspx